GAP Machine Specs

Starting Point

Start with assuming we have a standard grant box with all software installed and QCd.

Extra Software

A GAP box should also have installed on it:

• lessdisks (if needed for mulitple terminals)
• mediawiki ( see http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Running_MediaWiki_on_Debian_GNU/Linux for details, but this inlcudes dependancies on apache php4 libapache-mod-php4 php4-gd php4-imagick php4-mysql mysql-server )
• A dyndns client (not sure the best one):
  • ddclient - Update dynamic IP address at DynDNS.org
  • ddns3-client - Issues dynamic DNS v3 requests
  • ez-ipupdate - client for most dynamic DNS services
  • ipcheck - Dyndns.org client to register your dynamic IP address
• cron-apt (It should be configured to get but not install the latest packages on a daily basis.)
• dns server/cache for nfs when internet connectivity is out?

Configuration

Auto-login generally needs to be enabled. These are logging in anonymously.

Icons on the desktop should be:

• Web browser
• Files (pointing to /home/shared/ which all users have read-write privileges on)
• Trash can
• Dictionary ???
• Help (browser pointing to the wiki main page)

Stuff to remove

There are some things not needed that should be maybe pulled off:

• Any mail client -- these are used by individuals for personal information and are prone to being left open for the public to read. Folks using these terminals should be encouraged to use web mail services somewhere.
• Personal Information Managers

Hardware specs

A regular grant box hardware spec is probably sufficient. But it's OK to go higher than that if needed. There aren't very many GAP boxen out there, so it's OK to splurge without much consequence to production. In multi-terminal diskless environments, the server should have enough oomph to do the job well.